Ashes of Charlotte Gray Heroine Scattered in France

The ashes of an Australian second world war spy who was the inspiration for the book and film, Charlotte Gray, have been scattered at a ceremony in France.

Nancy Wake requested that her ashes be scattered near the village of Verneix in central France where she worked with the French resistance.

The ceremony was attended by the mayor of Verneix and Brigadier Bill Sowry, the Australian military attache.

"We are here today to pass on our respects, to give her the respect she deserves," Sowry said. "It's great the people of Verneix have done so much to recognise her and make this little part of France part of Australia as well."

Wake's exploits throughout the war inspired Sebastian Faulks to create the character of Charlotte Gray who was played in the film by the Australian actor Cate Blanchett. Wake died in 2011 in London at the age of 98.

As a leading figure of the French resistance, credited with helping hundreds of allied soldiers escape after she was parachuted into France, Wake was among the allies' most decorated servicewomen.

She was living in France when war broke out and escaped the Gestapo by travelling to Spain. She made it to London where she was trained by the Special Operations Executive before returning to France to work with the French resistance.

When she returned to her Marseille home after the liberation, she discovered her husband, French businessman Henri Fiocca, had been tortured and killed by the Gestapo for refusing to give her up.

Wake, born on 30 August 1912 in New Zealand, the youngest of six children, was raised in Sydney.

At 16 she used a £200 inheritance from an aunt to travel to London, where she studied journalism before moving to Paris. In 1938 she married Fiocca, a wealthy French industrialist. They were living in Marseille when France fell.

Although wealthy enough to avoid the hardships of war, Wake chose to become a courier for the resistance. One day, warned that the Gestapo was on its way to arrest her, she kissed her husband for the last time and fled.

Following her training in London, on the night of 29 April 1944 Wake was parachuted into the Auvergne region near Verneix where she co-ordinated a 7,000-strong resistance group and led successful attacks on German forces in the area.

After the war, Britain awarded Wake the George medal, the United States gave her the Medal of Freedom and France honoured her with the Médaille de la Résistance, the Croix de Guerre – three times – and the Légion d'honneur. In 1957, Wake married John Melvin Forward, a former RAF fighter pilot.